The Supplement May Even Benefit Pets

"Ester-C is a complex of calcium ascorbate plus vitamin C metabolites. A lot of people call metabolites `door openers.' If you open a door wider, more people can get through.

"What we believe is these vitamin C metabolites open the door for more vitamin C to get into the cell. It also keeps vitamin C in the cell longer. That's basically why Ester-C is different."
And, whereas vitamin C dissolves in water, Brown says Ester-C doesn't, making it a natural for skin lotions, such as moisturizers and sunscreens.

The supplement may even benefit pets.
"I'm a veterinarian. That's how I got involved with the company in the first place," Brown says.
"They asked me to show that Ester-C would help dogs walk better. I didn't think it would, but I did the test anyway. And the old dogs on Ester-C actually began to walk better within a week.

"It helped their joints. It's also an antiinflammatory, so, overall, I think, the dogs just felt better."
Brown notes that 2001 sales of Ester-C to pet companies were up by 50 percent.
Not everyone, however, is quite so enthusiastic about Ester-C's benefits.

Pamela Hannaman-Pittman, ND, a naturopath at Bastyr University in Seattle, says the university dispensary doesn't carry Ester-C, but even if it did, she's not sure she'd recommend it.
"There hasn't been enough unbiased, third-party research to show that Ester-C is significantly better than ascorbic acid, either buffered or unbuffered. Because of that, I haven't seen any reason to ask patients to incur the added expense of that product."

And the added expense can be significant. An informal Better Nutrition survey of retailers in different areas of the country, for example, found that 500 mg of Ester-C can cost roughly 25 percent to 30 percent more than an equivalent dose of ordinary vitamin C.
Brown says Ester-C has few critics, but he acknowledges that skeptics have called for more research. Meletis agrees.

"In my opinion," he says, "the jury's still out on Ester-C. I don't believe the literature is conclusive yet.

"My recommendation for the average patient is to take vitamin C along with bioflavonoids. For people who have sensitive gastrointestinal systems--or esophagitis, gastritis, ulcers or other conditions that prevent them from taking large doses of vitamin C--often I will recommend Ester-C.
"But the best way to get any nutrient or vitamin--including vitamin C--is from good healthy food sources."